Feeling the bit of nervousness about Europe, all the connecting flights and train schedules and foreign languages and the money are all boggling my little brain. I am torn between limiting my trip and extending it, but the places I'm going now are essential:

Rome for my friends and for my personal audience with the Pope (he and I have some things to discuss. I've got some ideas I'd like to throw past him: different angles on the investiture controversy, possible solutions to the Bogomil problem, and a new wing for the Papal libraries)

Amsterdam for the obvious reasons that a man of my tastes.

Krakow for my blood ties and to see Aushwitz.

Budapest because that's where I'm leaving from. Ideally, this would be the place to cut, but the tickets are bought and paid for, too late to change.

So much more I want to see, Byzatium for example to see the Haggia Sofia and Tangiers to walk where Burroughs walked. Oh well. I've cash, a passport, ruggedly handsome good looks and a deadly serious perspective. That's gotten me this far. I can go farther.

THE PARAMODERN TERROR: COMPASSION!